FET: Medium: Latch Ising Machines (LIM)

当今世界，在安全通信、蛋白质折叠、神经网络和医疗保健等领域，困难的计算(NP-Complete)问题比比皆是。这些难题中的一大类可以归结为一种被称为伊辛问题的形式，它与铁磁材料的物理密切相关。该项目团队设计了一种在硬件上快速有效地解决伊辛问题的新方法，使用了由小而简单的电路组成的网络，具体地说，是广泛应用于各种电子设备的“静态”存储单元。这一概念极大地拓宽了对伊辛机方案及其运行机制的整体理解。这个项目正在将这种方法(称为LIM)发展成实际成果，包括从通信中演示现实世界的问题。能够比目前的实际情况更快、更准确地解决这些现实世界的问题，可以为社会带来广泛的好处。该项目的活动包括关注来自传统弱势背景的学生，以及传播和互动研讨会。更准确地说，该团队展示了以前使用量子/光学方案以及振荡器网络实现的伊辛机器，也可以使用双稳态元件实现，如基于cmos的锁存器。与以前的伊辛机方法不同，伊辛机方法体积大、成本高，不适合低成本的大规模生产，所提出的方法是一种纯粹的经典方案，不依赖于量子现象或新的纳米器件。使用传统的CMOS电子学具有许多优势：可扩展性/小型化(即，在物理上很小的系统中具有非常大量的自旋)、完善的设计流程和工具，基本上保证了首次工作的硬件、非常低的功耗操作、与控制和I/O逻辑的无缝集成、通过USB等标准接口易于编程，以及低成本的大规模生产。另一个关键的潜在优势来自LIM的连续/模拟性质(与纯数字算法相比)。研究人员正在从理论和计算上开发LIM，在硬件上实施，并在基准Ising问题和Ising形式的与通信相关的困难问题上进行演示。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Difficult computational (NP-complete) problems abound in today’s world, in areas as diverse as secure communications, protein folding, neural networks and healthcare. Large classes of these hard problems can be reduced to a form known as the Ising problem, which is closely related to the physics of ferromagnetic materials. The project team has devised a novel way of solving the Ising problem quickly and effectively in hardware, using networks of small, simple circuits, specifically, ``static'' memory cells, widely used in electronic devices of every kind. The concept significantly broadens the overall understanding of Ising machine schemes and their operational mechanisms. This project is developing this method (termed LIM) to practical fruition, including demonstration on real-world problems from communications. Being able to solve such real-world problems much more quickly and accurately than is currently practical can lead to broad benefits to society. The project's activities include a focus on students from traditionally disadvantaged backgrounds, as well as workshops for dissemination and interaction.More precisely, the team is showing that Ising machines, which have previously been realized using quantum/optical schemes as well as oscillator networks, can also be implemented using bi-stable elements such as CMOS-based latches. Unlike previous Ising machine approaches, which are large, expensive and ill-suited to low-cost mass production, the proposed approach is a purely classical scheme that does not rely on quantum phenomena or novel nano-devices. Using conventional CMOS electronics has many advantages: scalability/miniaturizability (i.e., very large numbers of spins in a physically small system), well-established design processes and tools that essentially guarantee first-time working hardware, very low power operation, seamless integration with control and I/O logic, easy programmability via standard interfaces like USB, and low cost mass production. Another key potential advantage stems from the continuous/analog nature of LIM (as contrasted with purely digital algorithms). The researchers are developing LIM theoretically and computationally, implementing it in hardware, and demonstrating it on benchmark Ising problems as well as Ising forms of difficult communications-related problems.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.